Pitt freshmen sacrifice last days of high school to prepare for life as college football player
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No one can predict how many or to what extent Pitt’s freshman football players will impact the team next season.
So much time, so much to learn and so many moving parts stand in the way before the opener Sept. 2 against Wofford.
After winter conditioning, spring practice begins next month. Then, there are 15 days of drills, including the Blue-Gold game April 15 at Acrisure Stadium, summer workouts and training camp in August.
Running back T.J. Harvison is ready to embrace the hard work in front of him. Before that, he made the difficult sacrifice of leaving family, friends and classmates back home in Bowdon, Ga., giving up the last semester of his high school senior year to get a jump on college.
“At some point in time, you have to grow up and put your big-man pants on,” he said.
Harvison and two freshman classmates — offensive lineman B.J. Williams and defensive tackle Isaiah Neal — recently met with reporters to reflect on their first month of college life. They are among seven freshmen who enrolled in January.
T.J. Harvison, RB
Harvison (6-foot-1, 200 pounds) ran for 2,026 yards while helping Bowdon win a state championship last season.
Even with the loss of Izzy Abanikanda to the NFL, Harvison enters a crowded Pitt backfield that includes junior Rodney Hammond, seniors C’Bo Flemister and Daniel Carter, Derrick Davis, a Gateway graduate who transferred from LSU, and freshman Montravius Lloyd.
Running backs coach Andre Powell always is looking for depth at a position where players constantly are taking a beating. Hammond missed five games last season.
Harvison listed several personal attributes that may help him gain playing time.
“My ability to keep going through the first contact,” he said. “Leg drive, not stopping my feet, attacking people before they attack me. I feel like my game is speed, elusiveness and power.
“The hardest part is the waking up part (for early morning workouts). Transition was easy when I got to the workout parts. If I keep learning the playbook and doing what I need to be doing, my time will come, even if it’s not this season.”
Isaiah Neal, DT
Neal, a 6-3, 270-pound defensive tackle from Baltimore, goes by the nickname “Ghost.”
“It’s actually a pretty funny story,” he said. “In sixth grade, I changed to a new Little League team and I was the only light-skin player on the team. It looked like I had a white sheet over me like a ghost.”
Neal, the only 4-star prospect in Pitt’s 2023 class (per Rivals.com), credits defensive line coach Charlie Partridge for luring him to Pitt.
“His name speaks volumes,” Neal said. “Him being who he is and him having as much of a role as he has here at Pitt, that was huge for me.
“We know coach (Pat) Narduzzi loves defense. I came to a team where not only is defense emphasized, but in the defensive line room, we have a lot of flexibility because of the trust coach Narduzzi has in coach Partridge. Him being who he is was a big reason in me coming here. Without coach Partridge, it’s a different story, maybe.”
Neal isn’t impressed by his 4-star status.
“I didn’t even know I was the only (4-star in the class),” he said. “It’s a blessing, but I know at the end of the day, those stars are just stars. There are a bunch of people who think they know who you are as a player.
“I want my class to be a well-known class all together. Not just me being at 4-star guy. I want T.J. to eat. I want B.J. to eat. I want all those guys coming in in the summer to eat with me. I don’t care how many stars they have. We all came in the same family.”
Neal said he first will work to build trust with his teammates.
“If the guy next to me can’t trust me, I’m a liability,” he said. “As a freshman, you don’t want to overstep, but at the same time, I’m not going to be a church mouse and be quiet. It’s not in my nature.”
Pitt ended last season well-stocked at defensive tackle, even considering the loss of All-American Calijah Kancey.
Neal will learn behind seniors Devin Danielson, Deandre Jules, David Green and Tyler Bentley while sophomores Elliot Donald and Dorien Ford and redshirt freshman Sean FitzSimmons also compete for playing time.
Neal, who wants to be sociology major, thinks beyond football.
“I think it’s super important to understand people and why they are the way they are,” he said. “We’re made to be these super tough, big, bulky, running, head-to-head guys. But we’re people. I think that’s why it’s so important to me because a lot of times, people don’t take that into consideration. We have the same emotions. We go through the same stuff.”
B.J. Williams, OL
Williams, a 6-4, 270-pound center prospect, believes he can gain much knowledge from offensive line coach Dave Borbely.
“He’s been coaching offensive line since before I was born. He knows every technique to do right to get into the league,” he said.
So true: Borbely’s coaching career began in 1981.
Williams also will learn from senior center Jake Kradel.
“As soon as I got here, he said, ‘I’m going to be your big brother.’ ”